Ancestor Deck Card - My Grandmother Grace

It's time for the next Ancestor Deck swap and here is the card for my grandma Grace. I learned a lot about her doing my research for this card.

My Paternal Grandmother
Grietje "Grace" Huizenga Housam Streur
February, 19, 1876 – March 24, 1957

Because I was the youngest of my sisters and my grandmother lived in Michigan, I did not know her like my sisters did. She and her two sisters were the daughters of carpenter Bernardus Huizenga and Zwantina C.K. Huizenga of Zeeland.

She was briefly married to Edward Housam who was my father's birth father, but soon married Egbert Streur who adopted my dad. He had loved her prior to her first marriage and loved her all the rest of his life. My grandmother became severely mentally ill late in her life and my parents moved her and my grandfather to California to care for them. I only knew my grandma as a withdrawn woman whom I ultimately visited monthly in Camarillo State Hospital. I heard many wonderful stories about her from my sisters,  however, who had lived with my grandparents off and on when my mom was recovering from TB in the 1930s. My mom was not as kind and felt her mother-in-law was overbearing. I do know she had a love of jewelry, fine clothes and loved to read.

Imagine my delight to find memorabilia of my grandma's in preparation for this card—including an autograph book from 1887, her birth and death certificates, many photos and a travel journal. I also have several pieces of her costume jewelry which I wear frequently. All these things helped me to know her better.